Three Perspectives on Love
by WingedPanther73
Summary: My take on the characters in episode Bad Spark.  Written for Sybil's birthday.  Warnings: None  Disclaimer: Beast Wars Transformers, its names and characters belong to Hasbro.  The dialog is from "Bad Spark", not me.  Beta Reader & Birthday Girl: Sybil Ro
1. Silverbolt

Title: Three Perspectives On Love

Author: WingedPanther73

Pairing(s)/Characters: Black Arachnia, Silverbolt, Rampage

Rating: PG-13

Summary: My take on the characters in episode Bad Spark. Written for Sybil's birthday.

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: Beast Wars Transformers, its names and characters belong to Hasbro. The dialog is from "Bad Spark", not me.

Beta Reader & Birthday Girl: Sybil Rowan

Chapter 1: Silverbolt

He got the call and was proud to leave with Optimus. Another protoform had been discovered, and it was their mission to rescue it before the Predacons corrupted it, as they had the lovely Black Arachnia.

It didn't take them long to get to the unusually large stasis pod. Normally, getting to a stasis pod before the Predacons would have been something to celebrate. This time, Optimus seemed troubled, rather than pleased. There was a protoform present, but its spark appeared to have been extinguished. After hearing the story of the experiment, Silverbolt wasn't sure he disagreed with Optimus's feelings on the matter.

That made the perfect time for Black Arachnia to enter the scene, of course. With missiles flying, she announced, "The Predacons claim that protoform!" He turned to see her and Waspinator, even as her declaration hurt him deep inside. It hurt almost as much as the missile exploding on his chest. He managed to shake it off, but found himself one on one against Black Arachnia.

Fortunately, she was choosing to use her fists against him, rather than her guns. Every move she made was poetry in motion. The punches hurt, of course, but every move was beautiful and graceful. He almost heard the steady stream of irritation from her. "How far will you carry this silly chivalry? This dark damsel is not impressed!" He would take it as far as he had to, of course. He could not strike a female. Especially not her, even if she did insist on knee-striking his jaw.

It was something of a shock to find himself rescued by Tarantulus. He wanted to be grateful, since he didn't enjoy being beat on by Black Arachnia, but the mood was immediately spoiled by Tarantulus putting her in a head lock and getting her to confess that Megatron was a slag sucking saurian. There didn't seem to be much point in extracting such a confession. Fortunately, his head had a chance to clear. Unfortunately, what he heard was, "Foolish spider, let's see if playing my shield will improve your sense of reason!" The villain had to be stopped.

Silverbolt managed to rise and face Tarantulus. "Though threatening your own comrade is no doubt business as usual in the Predacon guide to villainy, it is simply unacceptable behavior in my book." With that, he pounced, knocking his fair lady free. The resulting explosion wasn't part of the heroic rescue he had envisioned, unfortunately.

It was also something of a mixed blessing to find that he had landed next to Black Arachnia. Granted, she was lovely as ever, but having her draw a gun on him wasn't quite what he wanted to face. He drew his missile/feather to defend himself, but it wasn't clear how best to handle the situation. It appeared that her armor was scuffed. His concern won out against his wariness. "Are you damaged?"

Fortunately, she paused, even better, "Just enough to make me... interesting." As if she wasn't always the most interesting robot around. If only she would just realize that. Still, it was good to know that no serious harm had befallen her. He had successfully defended her, and the blunder with the explosion had not proven to be a real problem.

However, if they were unharmed, then... "I suspect Tarantulus will still come after you." He lowered his weapon. They had better things to do than fight each other, like worry about the crazed spider that seemed so intent on torturing her.

Black Arachnia lowered her weapon as well. "I expect you're right."

Good, now they could focus on the common enemy. "Well, I will not let him harm you."

"I'm counting on that. Now, why don't you make like a hero and fly me out of here?"

Now that he wasn't focused on a potential fight, he could actually pay attention to the warnings from his subsystems. The one that was screaming at him the most loudly, unfortunately, was from his wing mechanism. A quick test confirmed his fears. "I am unable. My wing mechanism is offline." A quick glance gave him a plan, though. "We must journey by foot to that peak above the storm, where we can contact our respective bases."

"Not my first choice, but, lead the way."

They walked for a while, the natural activities of the dark place revealing, once again, how nature could come in all forms. It was pleasant to walk next to such a lady, even if it was only temporary. The real question was, how could he get her to see her inner nature? She didn't have to be... "I consider myself a creature of darkness, but this place is making even my skin crawl!" ... dark. Why did she have to revel in her artificial Predacon nature?

Suddenly, he saw a familiar purple arm above them. "Tarantulus!"

Black Arachnia looked about in alarm. "Where?"

As he got a better look, he realized there was no danger. It dangled from a tree, detached from his body. "Do not worry, he has been disarmed."

"To say the least." They were able to laugh at that. With Tarantulus obviously damaged by the storm, it seemed the danger was now past.

A short distance later they came to a chasm. There was a single log across it, not good footing, from the look of it. Unfortunately, there appeared to be no other route, short of flying, and that simply was not an option at this time. With resignation, he pointed the way. "Across here." He lead the way, as any gentleman would. With the treacherous footing, and uncertain strength of the log, he could not risk Black Arachnia being hurt should it give way. He would take the risk.

He had not accounted for the potential danger behind him, until he heard her grab her gun. Turning, he saw that his chivalry was about to be betrayed. So this is how she would reward him for protecting her. He understood, she was embracing her dark side, rather than her Maximal nature. Still, he had hoped to have more time to show her what a lovely creature she could be, inside as well as out.

His musings were interrupted when he detected the motion of a large creature behind her. She would be ambushed! "Behind you!"

Her dismissive voice showed how poorly she understood him. "Don't be pathetic." As if he would dishonor himself with such a petty ruse. Alas, he was forced to watch as the saber-tooth leaped on her from behind. With her gun no longer tracking him, he transformed and charged her attacker. He would defend her! He could not let her treachery cloud his own purpose, to rescue her from herself and those who would harm her.

As he rolled with the beast, he suddenly found himself falling, then clutching a convenient vine. It seemed vines were not really meant for supporting the weight of a robot. Worse, she was once again pointing her gun at him. So this was how it was. She would kill him to preserve her dark nature. "I understand. You are, after all, a Predacon."

The vine gave way first, saving her the messiness of being responsible for his demise. To his surprise, however, she instead fired a web line at him, and started pulling him back up. As he climbed up the lip of the chasm, he heard a familiar question. "Are yah... damaged?"

He considered the question, and chose to respond in kind with her earlier answer. "Just enough to make me interesting." Of course, what was really bothering him was her sudden change from trying to kill him, to saving him. Was she finally giving in to her Maximal nature? "Why did you save me?"

"Well, uh, there might be other creatures." Her answer sounded like the sort of excuse she needed to cover her true feelings. So, her Maximal nature WAS coming out, after all. It was time to pursue this revelation.

"I think you couldn't bring yourself to dishonorably kill a helpless opponent!"

"Now you're being crazy." The tone of disgust came a little too quick, to his ear.

"Lest you forget, you were, originally, a Maximal protoform."

With a note of rising defensiveness, she responded, "Don't even go there."

He pressed the advantage that was obviously his, "But, saving me was indicative of your more noble heritage, so obviously..."

"I said drop it"

"Just admit there is a spark of goodness deep inside you, and then..." He was interrupted by the need to seek cover as her eight machine guns opened fire on him.

"Shall I elaborate?"

He considered for a moment. It seemed that he had pushed her too far. "Perhaps not."

They traveled for a while in uneasy silence. Had he misread her motives? Her excuse made no sense, and she seemed too defensive about her actions. His musings were interrupted by the discovery of more pieces of Tarantulus.

"He's gone into stasis lock, that explosion didn't do this."

He quickly realized who must have dismembered the helpless Predacon. "No, this is the work of..."

"Of what?" There was a note of panic in her voice.

"...Protoform X."

"What? I thought it, it extinguished?" There was now confusion in her voice.

"Apparently, it did not. And apparently, it may never." He realized they would have to be on their guard. They could collect the pieces of Tarantulus and... His thought was interrupted as he saw Black Arachnia turn and start walking away. He quickly caught up with her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You're leaving him behind?"

"I want out of here, now!" She shrugged his hand off and kept moving. Silverbolt found himself following her with a twinge of regret. He didn't like leaving someone behind, helpless and injured, but his first priority was to protect his dark lady from a true monster.

Suddenly, the monster was before them, towering far taller than either of them. They backed away carefully, while X advanced, making incoherent noises. Silverbolt moved to provide Black Arachnia with cover, but he was casually knocked aside.

Stunned, he heard machine gun fire interrupted by an explosion. He forced himself to rise, and threw a missile at X by reflex, only to have it blasted out of the air. Before he knew it, X had transformed into a giant crab, and was crushing him in a claw.

"Is that fear, you're feeling, Maximal?" He knew fear. He was thinking of Black Arachnia torn to pieces as Tarantulus was. "Mmm yes, my spark, it feeds on terror." The sound of the pure evil in that voice was worse than anything he'd imagined from Optimus's descriptions. He would delight in tormenting Black Arachnia. "Let it grow, let it consume your circuitry." Something about the malice, and his helplessness to stop the maniac sent his circuitry into the very loop he knew he had to avoid. He should be thinking of how to escape, even as the claw squeezed tighter. "Feel it, yes, feel it, feel the fear!" The combination of helplessness and need to protect Black Arachnia and pain overwhelmed him. He screamed.

He heard a cry from Black Arachnia, "Silverbolt!" She cared about him, but it was Optimus and Cheetor who freed him from the evil one.

He heard a barrage of fire while he attempted to get his bearings. It was followed by the rumbling of treads and Black Arachnia's cry of, "It's unstoppable!"

The malevolent voice saying, "Your persistence is futile, I rise again!" was what drove him to his feet. He saw the tank/crab advancing up the cliff.

"In that case, let us give you further to fall!" He saw the vulnerable tread and threw a missile at it, causing the fragile tread to dislodge and send the monster to the bottom of the cliff. To his alarm, a final missile knocked Black Arachnia backwards off the other cliff behind them.

There was no thought. He had to save her. It was a reflex that brooked no discussion, no consideration, no thought. He was in the air diving after her falling body. At that point, he became aware of a minor, technical glitch. His wing hadn't fully recovered. He tried to force the mechanism. "Come on wing, work." It wasn't working, and now they were both in trouble. He applied more force to the mechanism, trying to unjam it. "Work, blast you!" He applied more force. "WORK!" Finally, he was rewarded with the mechanism unseizing, and the ability to both catch the bot he realized he loved, and land safely.

As he placed her on the ground, he was rewarded to hear, "Not too shabby, but don't expect any gushing gratitude."

He could accept that. With a smile, he responded, "I do not. You are, after all, a Predacon."

His smile was ruined when she ran off into the forest. He was restrained from following her by Optimus's hand on his shoulder. "Silverbolt, let her go."

It took everything in him to allow her to move on. He tuned out Cheetor and Optimus as he gazed after where she had disappeared from view. "Ah, you're much MORE than a Predacon, my lady. Some day, you'll come to realize that." His spark was now bonded to hers.


	2. Black Arachnia

Chapter 2: Black Arachnia

Black Arachnia sat in the command center, eavesdropping on the Maximal transmissions. So, there was a giant protoform just waiting to join the Predacons. She would be happy to help warp another Maximal to appreciate the value of aggression.

"Blackarachnia! Waspinator! Prepare for a recruitment drive. Whatever this protoform is, I want it flying the flag of the Predacons." Of course, she would be forced to work with the most useless idiot available. At least he could transport her faster.

"Always eager to welcome a new comrade in arms." Maybe it would be able to replace Waspinator in their ranks. To her annoyance, she felt Megatron place a bug in the middle of her back. So, he didn't trust her, and hoped to learn her secret. Fine, she would make sure he had interesting conversations to listen to.

The problem with traveling by wasp was simple: he was slow, even though he was faster than traveling by ground. Optimus and Silverbolt had already joined the young kitten. She was forced to start firing missiles early in an effort to disable one of them before they realized they were under attack. Unfortunately, Waspinator was not a stable platform to fire from. She missed, and was forced to engage an aware enemy. "The Predacons claim that Protoform!"

To her disgust, Waspinator proved himself worthy of her low opinion of him, by getting knocked out of action almost immediately. She almost had everything handled, when that obnoxious Fuzor, Silverbolt, rose before her. Rather than fight her, however, he seemed overcome with indecision. "Come on, fight back!" Fine, she hit him. The coward backed off, rather than fighting. "How far will you carry this silly chivalry?" She hit him again, but was irritated by his refusal to fight back. "This dark damsel is not impressed!" She kneed his jaw, knocking him to the ground. It was time to finish this nonsense.

Instead, she found herself tackled and held by Tarantulus. "You? What are you doing here?"

"You've got information I want."

Oh, so he thought she'd just blab the information on the disk? While Megatron was spying on her? Not likely! "Fine, Tarantulus, here's the scoop: Megatron is a slag sucking saurian, got it?" She wished she could see Megatron's expression.

"Foolish spider, let's see if playing my shield will improve your sense of reason." Great, he was going to try to torture the information out of her.

Then, she heard something even more annoying, "Though threatening your own comrade is no doubt business as usual in the Predacon guide to villainy, it is simply unacceptable behavior in my book." Not him, not like this. That idiot puppy was going to rescue her.

Of course, in the process of beating on Tarantulus, he set off the exposed energon crystals, throwing all of them into the air.

She landed, circuits attempting to come back online after the energon shockwaves. Immediately, she became aware of the pup in front of her and drew her missile launcher. To her dismay, he drew as well. Unlike before, this time he seemed prepared to defend himself. Her damage sensors were trying to get her attention as she reviewed the situation. To her surprise, he chose to speak. "Are you damaged?"

He lowered his weapon, giving her the chance to review the feeds from her sensors. Her external plates had been damaged, there was minor damage to internal circuits, but overall, there was nothing a little time in the CR chamber wouldn't fix. She decided to take advantage of his interest in her. "Just enough to make... interesting."

"I suspect Tarantulus will still come after you."

Now that was an unpleasant thought. "I expect you're right."

"Well, I will not let him harm you."

Despite herself, that was actually comforting. Tarantulus would be happy to slowly dismember her, circuit by circuit for the information she had. "I'm counting on that. Now, why don't you make like a hero and fly me out of here?" It would be better than being carried by Waspinator.

He attempted to flex his right wing, but it didn't seem to have a full range of motion. "I am unable. My wing mechanism is offline. We must journey by foot to that peak above the storm, where we can contact our respective bases."

Great. A flier who couldn't fly, and being hunted by Tarantulus. What else could go wrong? "Not my first choice, but, lead the way."

As they trudged along, the atmosphere of the area got to her. "I consider myself a creature of darkness, but this place is even making my skin crawl!" It was not her idea of a fun place, and she kept expecting Tarantulus to attack, again.

"Tarantulus!"

She whirled about, trying to find the point of attack. "Where?"

He pointed calmly, "Do not worry, he has been disarmed."

She looked, seeing the detached arm. "To say the least." As relief swept over her, she found herself laughing with the pup at the bad pun.

As they continued their trek, she started reviewing the situation. Silverbolt was a competent warrior, who might not suffer the pummeling she had given him earlier. At the same time, with Tarantulus severely injured, his chivalry was just an annoyance. Megatron could easily rescue her at a moment's notice, but wouldn't admit he'd been listening in. Overall, the pup was just slowing her down, now.

When they came to the chasm, she saw her chance. The fool never seemed to pay attention to her array of tools. A chasm wasn't a problem for her, just him. That he thought crossing a log was a necessity showed how little he respected her. She drew her weapon. Time to lose a little dead weight.

He spun as he heard her draw. She was surprised to feel a tug in her spark when she saw the look of disappointment on his face. There was a part of her that suddenly didn't want to fire, and then he had to open his lame mouth.

"Behind you!"

Off all the stupid tricks, he had to sully his great "chivalry" with that one? "Don't be pathetic." Her resolve became firm, until she heard the growl behind her. Turning, she saw a tiger in mid-pounce, which pinned her to the ground.

Suddenly, the weight of the predator was off her and the dog was rolling with the cat... right off the edge of the chasm. He hadn't been lying! She ran to the edge, expecting to see nothing, but instead saw Silverbolt hanging from a vine that was slowly giving way.

While she was threatening to kill him, his only concern had been to protect her. He risked his life to protect her immediately after she had been about to kill him. She drew her gun. "I understand. You are, after all, a Predacon." Even now, he would not accuse her. The vine broke. In a split decision, she sent the signal to her gun as she fired, sending a web line after him, catching him.

Silverbolt was annoyingly heavy. Dragging him up was hard work. Why couldn't his wings be in working order? As she got him to the ledge, she felt obliged to ask, "Are yah damaged?"

"Just enough to make me... interesting." It was kind of cute, but then he had to follow up with the obvious question, "Why did you save me?"

Because she loved him. She couldn't say that. Something reasonable. "Well, uh, there might be other creatures." It sounded lame. This wasn't going to go well.

"I think you couldn't bring yourself to dishonorably kill a helpless opponent!"

No, this wasn't going to go well at all. "Now you're being crazy."

"Lest you forget, you were, originally, a Maximal protoform."

Was he trying to piss her off? She had saved him. That was enough. She was a Predacon. "Don't even go there."

"But, saving me was indicative of your more noble heritage, so obviously..."

He was pissing her off, "I said drop it!"

"Just admit there is a spark of goodness deep inside you, and then..."

She saw red, spinning and firing a short burst. She was gratified to see him peek at her from behind a rock. Much better. He needed to know his place. "Shall I elaborate?"

"Perhaps not." About time. She felt much better.

Shortly after that, they found the rest of Tarantulus. He was in pieces. "He's gone into stasis lock, that explosion didn't do this."

"No, this is the work of..."

His somber tone captured her attention, her spark pulsing in sudden anxiety, "Of what?"

"...Protoform X."

"What, I thought it, it extinguished?"

"Apparently, it did not. And apparently, it may never."

Well, that made her decision for her. Time to leave. She felt Silverbolt's hand on her shoulder.

"You're, you're leaving him behind?"

Well, duh! Of course she was going to leave the crazy spider behind! "I want out of here. Now!" Fortunately, she didn't have to beat the pup up to get moving again.

As they rounded an outcropping, they discovered the giant robot, very much alive. Despite herself, she screamed. This monster looked completely irrational. She retreated, and was gratified to see Silverbolt's chivalry kick in again, as he moved to protect her.

X's arm put an end to that. She fired, knowing she had to stop the advance, but was horrified to see him laugh off her assault before he fired a missile at her, stunning her as she landed amongst rocks.

Her circuits worked to reroute, but it was Silverbolt's cry that drove her to her feet again. "Silverbolt!" She felt an involuntary jolt of relief as Primal and the pussy cat swooped to his rescue. She lent her firepower against the common enemy, driving the massive bot off the cliff.

She felt a momentary sense of relief, which turned to horror as he transformed into a tank and started advancing while firing missiles. "It's unstoppable!"

For the first time, she clearly heard his malicious voice, "Your persistence is futile, I rise again!"

Silverbolt came to join them. "In that case, let us give you further to fall!" She felt a rush of relief, followed by the impact of a missile knocking her backwards off the other side of the peak.

She started calculating the best place to snag a web line, when she saw Silverbolt dive off the cliff after her. Now she had to figure out how to catch him, as well. To her surprise, he managed to get his bum wing to work, catching her instead.

She decided he deserved a reward, "Not too shabby, but don't expect any gushing gratitude."

"I do not. You are, after all, a Predacon."

She smiled to herself as she dashed out of sight. As soon as he lost sight of her, she turned to spy on his reaction. He wanted to pursue her. It was kind of sweet. She had to smile as he lingered, "Ah, you're much MORE than a Predacon, my lady. Some day, you'll come to realize that."

She sighed in pleasure, a warm glow filling her spark. She just wished he would recognize her competence. "Like I needed him to catch me, anyway." She used a web line to start making her way to base.


	3. Rampage

Chapter 3: Rampage

Even in stasis lock, his spark refused to be still. His thoughts were an endless loop, recalling the terror he had inspired on Cybertron, and considering the mistake that had allowed them to catch him. Ultimately, it was allowing them to gain data on him that had been his undoing. He should have let them think he was frailer than he was. They had captured him and sealed him.

During the trip, his limited store of energon had slowly been consumed. Now, his body was starting to absorb it again. It was so slow, he needed more before he could move.

He heard Optimus's hated voice recounting his birth and ignominious capture. If only he had more energy, he could teach that scientist a lesson. Soon, very soon.

His microphones picked up the sound of battle, and it galled him that he wasn't at the center of it. He should have been devastating them all, instead of lying helpless due to lack of energy. Finally, one of the fools detonated the energon, letting him absorb enough energy to become active. He was reborn!

As soon as his pod landed, he grabbed an energon shard and added it to his systems. He was now prepared to launch terror once again!

Given the interest they had shown in his pod, he decided to begin by stalking around it. He was soon rewarded by an odd looking little bot. He advanced from behind, and was rewarded with a scream that matched the terror radiating from his spark.

X laid his hands on the little bot and ripped off an arm, tossing it far away. The screams were delightful, the sound of frustrated self-preservation. He tore off the other arm, savoring the feel of pain and terror as damage subsystems started overloading. He continued tearing it apart, until it overloaded and went into stasis lock. Frustrated, he dropped the remains.

Where were the others? Where was he? He needed more than just one bot's terror to sustain his hunger. He remembered the presence of Optimus, and counseled himself to patience. He would not be rash again.

Soon he was rewarded by the presence of two sparks approaching. Even better, one of them was already becoming consumed with the passions of new love, while the other was only beginning to respond. It was a beautiful thing to observe, the cold female and the romantic male that was clumsily courting her.

X circled around them, choosing the optimal point of attack. When he sprang forth, he was rewarded with a scream of terror from the female. What was better was the feeble effort of the male to shield her. He would made noises, meant to further their fear. It was working well.

X knocked the male aside, a small creature devoted to the female. He would threaten the fickle female to worsen his fear. The female fired machine guns at him, which tickled his massive frame. He laughed in delight. She had spunk, but no offensive power. He casually shot her into the rocks, disabling her.

He turned towards the male in time to shoot a thrown missile from the air. He changed forms, grabbing it in a claw. "Is that fear, you're feeling, Maximal?" Oh, it was, but fear for her. "Mmm yes, my spark, it feeds on terror." Yes, the terror grew, as the male no doubt thought of what awaited the female he could not protect. "Let it grow, let it consume your circuitry. Feel it, yes, feel it, feel the fear!" When he screamed under the mental and physical pressure, X couldn't help but laugh. What surprised him was the surge in the female's spark as she cried for the male. So his name was Silverbolt. Good to know.

His fun was interrupted when two fliers descended, bringing significant new firepower. One of them appeared to be a changed Optimus. That explained the firepower, enough to drive him off the cliff. That gave him a chance to switch to tank mode, ensuring more stability and greater firepower. He forced them away from the edge as the female's fear grew.

"It's unstoppable!"

Delightful! He would enjoy dismembering her before the male's helpless optics. "Your persistence is futile, I rise again."

To his displeasure, the male seemed to have lost his terror. "In that case, let us give you further to fall." A well-placed projectile dislodged his tread. Not again! He fired a guided missile at the female. The male would pay for the insolence. He was satisfied to feel the impact from the relay, just before his systems were knocked offline by the impacts from his fall.

What was even more annoying was the aggression in the spark that approached him. It had no fear, only lust for power that exceeded even his own. Then, he experienced pain.


End file.
